Baldrige Award Program to Assess 27 Organizations in 2018

Twenty-seven organizations from a variety of sectors across the U.S. have applied to the 2018 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award program. Reflecting the ongoing value of the Baldrige Excellence Framework to organizations of different sizes, sectors, and sites, the 2018 Baldrige Award applicants include 14 health care organizations, 5 education organizations, 6 nonprofit organizations, and 2 small businesses.

The Baldrige Award process will begin later this month. Working in teams over the summer, members of the volunteer board of Baldrige examiners will evaluate each of the award applicants against the 2017-2018 Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. The assessment criteria encompass categories of leadership; strategy; customers; measurement, analysis, and knowledge management; workforce; operations; and results. Baldrige examiners provide each applicant with 500 to 1,000 hours of review and a detailed report on the organization’s strengths and opportunities for improvement.

In August, the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program (BPEP)’s Judges Panel will determine which organizations will receive site visits by examiner teams to verify information in the application and clarify questions that come up during the review. From those site-visited organizations, the 2018 Baldrige Award recipients will be selected in November 2018.

The Baldrige Award is not given for specific products or services. Since 1988, 118 awards have been presented to 110 organizations (including eight two-time award recipients). Visit the Baldrige Program for more information.

Abridged, Courtesy of www.NIST.gov. To read the full article, click here.